Safety device for suspended doors



- July 7, 1925.

1,544,558 F. A. COLEMAN SAFETY DEVICE FOR SUSPENDED DOORS Filed ,mne 11. 1923 3 Sheet's-Shee t 1- flff ajemlc s July 7, 1925. 1541.558

F. A. COLEMAN SAFETY DEVICE OR USPENDED DOORS Filed June 11, 1925 15 Sheets-Sheet 2 J-A/VEA/IOZEL July 7,1925. I 1,544,558 F. A. COLEMAN SAFETY DEVICE FOR SUSPENDED DOORS- Filed June 11, 1923 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 w 1 L Zgi ,ZIV/IMI'OE' Z4 1 M M. z 1 I wz E...

flz'rolep/ ys Patented July 7, 1925.

U TE TES 1,544,558 PATENT OFFICE.

FREDER CK A. COLEMAN, or CLEVELAND, oHIo, AssIGNon TO THE F. A. COLEMAN .coivrrnnmor CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION or OHIO.

sAFETYnEvIcE FORYSUSPENDED nooks.

Application filed June 11, 1923. Serial No. 644,727.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, F REDERICK Conn- MAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented acertain new and useful Improvement-in a Safety Device for Suspended Doors, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings. r

This invention relates to safety devices applied to vertically movable large heavy doors, such as are frequently used for core ovens and the like, and under which workmen pass in the course of their work in operating the oven. It is common practice to suspend such doors in vertical guideways by cables or the like, suitably counterweighted, and the essential object of this inventionis to provide a simple and eifectivemeans, adapted-to operate with absolute certainty to arrest downward movement of the door, upon failure of any part of or all of the .supporting means. 1 1

' In this connection, my invention contemplates: the provision of means which may be easily reset following the failure of the supporting means and theconsequent actuation of the locking mechanism. 'Moreover, my invention is concerned with the "provision of a locking device which shall not be injured by the functioning thereof. v More specifically, my invention provides a safety mechanism which may be quite simple in construction, easi cheaply manufactured. The means for carryingout the objects of this invention will be'fully' set forth in the following-description which pertains to the accompanying drawings, in which the preferred application 'of theinvention is illustratedon a core oven door. The essential characteristics of my invention 'are summarized in the claims. a

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a-core oven having a door to which a safety; device'embodying my invention is operativelyconnected; Fig. 2-is a fragmentary view showing a front elevation of the opera tive device adjacent the door and guideway therefor; Figs. 3 and 4 aresections taken onthe lines and'4'4 respectively in Fig.2; Fig. 5 is a fragmentary front elevation showing the [entire top of a door with my mechanism attached ly applied and thereto; Fig. 6 is a section "taken along 4-4 of Fig. 2 showing the latchin locked posit1on.

I'have shown my invention as employed on a core oven door 10 which may form the front wall of an oven 11. The usual construction for supporting a door of the character illustrated in Fig. 1, comprises a pair of guideways 12 and 13 which embody channel members, and which extend sufliciently above the oven to permitraising of the door, and thereby to allow the passing 'of' workmen to and from the oven. The

doors are supported by cables, as illustrated at 14 and 15, which are arranged to extend over sheaves, as at 16 and 17 and may be counterbalanced by weights 19. These sheaves may be mounted on a transverse beam 18 which extends between the guideways.

My invention as applied to a core oven door, comprises essentially a brakeor gripping member which is carried by the door, andwhi'ch' is arranged to engage the guide or frame in which the door rides, consequent upon failure of one of the door supporting cables; The preferred manner of carrying out my invention is the provision of a brake actuating weight and an auxiliary weight which is operatively connected to the cable and which in turn controls the operation of the main weight.

The brake shoe or gripping member is indicated at 20, there being one mounted at each side of the door, and carried on the end of the lever arm, pivoted at 21 on a bracket 22, very rigidly mounted on the door. The gripping surface is the serrated oamshaped face of the member 20, adapted tofirmly engage the guideway upon the downward movement of the wei'ght 24, and this surface issoshaped that the weight of the door causes a tighter gripping action, thus entirely insuring the effective gripping and consequent stopping of any'downward movementof the door, and the plane 23 of the door acting in the guideway serves asa consisting of a latching member 25, which isadapted to engage a shoulder 26 on the weight 24. The latch may be rigidly attached to a slide 27 which may be supported in brackets 28 and 29 above the door. The bracket 28 is spaced sufficiently from the weight 24L so as to permit movement of the latch 25 to either side of the wei ht, wherefore the shoe may be actuated w ion the slide 27 is moved in either direction.

To actuate the latch, I have shown a weight 30 which is pivotally mounted at 31 on the bracket 29, and which is arranged to engage a shoulder such as a collar 32 on the slide. The member 30, as indicated, is normally held in uprightposition by any suitable connection, as at 38, with the door supporting cable 3%. The normal position of the member 30 is snown by the broken lines. in Fig. 2, while the position assumed by the member 30 when the cable is broken is indicated by the full lines in Fig. 2. The corresponding positions of the latch are also indicated in Fig. 2 at 25 and 25 respectively.

.The door illustrated, is supported by two cables and each cable is operatively cons ed to a gravitational or weight member which controls the operation of a latch at each end of the door. Accordingly, the weight is illustrated as positioned between the cable and side of the door, wherefore the weight 30 on one side of the door urges the slide in one direction, while the weight on the other side of the door urges the slide in'the opposite direction. Thus, if either cable fails, then the brakes on both ends of the door are brought into engagement with-the guides. If desired, however, theslide may be actuated in only one direction by either of the members 30. A satisfactory way of accomplishing this is to eliminate oneof the connections 33 and to permit one of the weights 30- to rest; against the adjacent cable. lVith this arrangement,

. however, the member 32 is placed on the op:

posite side of the pivotal CO -ll ction' 31, as shown in Fig. 5. i I

An advantageof a safety device constructed in accordance with my invention is the fact that both weights are actuated \vhen'e-itherone of the two cables fails. A further advantage obtained by this invention is the facility with which the brake be connected to a door independently of the position of the supporting cable. Thus iti-s evident that the auxiliary weight which is actuated by the cable may be placed in any convenient location near the cable with-- out regard to thedistance between the. brake and the. cable. 7 V

' av ng. s d c ib d y inv t on, I claim;

1. The combination with a door, of upright guideways therefor, a counterbalancing weight for the door, a flexible connection between the weight and door, a lock for securing the door to the guideway in any position, a member transversely movable relative to the door and carried thereby for controlling the operation of said lock and gravitational means associated with said member and operatively connected to the flexible connection for actuating said mem her to control the look upon failure of the flexible connection.

2. The combination with a door, of upright guideways therefor, a counterweight and flexible connection between the weight and door, locking means cooperating with the guideway. for securing the door in any position, said means. being normally held inactive, a member mounted to slide in a direction transverse to the door for controlling the operation of the locking means, said member being operatively connected with said flexible connection, Wherefore the failure of any connection, causes the locking means to engage both guideways simultaneously.

3. The combination with a door, of upright guideways therefor, a weight for the door,a flexible connection between the weigl'it and door, brake means mounted on each side of thedoor for en, gaging the guideways toarrest downward movement ofsaid door, a membercarried by the door slidably mounted thereon, said member having a latching device at each end thereof said device cooperating with the brake m ns fo normally holding said means in inactive position, and weight actuated members operatively connected'to the lidably m nt d member and to the flexible connection, for actuating the latching device upon failureof one of said connections.

4. The combination with a door of up right gu d ays therefor, a. counterbalanccounterbalarming ing; ig t or: hodoor, a flexible connection between the weight and the door, aweight act ated; a h arrie by-the. door on each side thereof, said shoe beingadaptfi to engage the gu dow ys for arresting the downward movement of said door, a weight c uate rippingd vio rr d y he door and operatively connected to; said flexible o tion u h m nner tha failure. of any ne t n ection a t ates he device to simultaneously release the Weight which controls said break.

The c m i a ion wi h a door, of upright guideways therefor, a pair of cables supportingsaid door, weight actuated brakes p v a y m unted-on e ch sideof: the door nd. a ap d to ngage said. guideways o arrest the downward movement of said 140917, a ok l d y mo nt d on, he door nd adapted to. engage the weight which contr s h rake -don d iti nal- Weight h d, act pos tion by one. o said abl s id: add t on l W ight. eingo ar ranged that failure of said cable will actuate said lock and release the weight which con trols said brake.

6. The combination with a door, of upright guideways, therefor, a counterbalancing weight for the door, flexible connections between the weight and the door, a pivoted arm, a weight carried by the arm in normally poised position and a brake shoe carried by the arm, said arm, weight and shoe being positioned at each side of the door and carried thereby said shoe being adapted to engage the guideways for arresting downward movement of said door, a weight actuated device carried by the door and operatively connected to said flexible connection in such manner that failure of any one of the connections actuates said device to simultaneously release the Weights which control said brake.

7. The combination with a door, of upright guideways, a pair of flexible cables supporting said door, a weight actuated brake pivotally mounted on each side of the door and adapted to engage said guideways to arrest downward movement of said door, a latch slidably mounted on the door and adapted to engage the weight which controls the brake and additional weights pivotally mounted on the door and adapted to swing in a plane parallel to the door, said weights being held inactive by oneof said cables, said additional weights being so arranged that failure of said cable will actuate said latch and release the weight which controls said brake.

8. In combination, a vertically raisable door, a pair of upright guides therefor, a

brake member pivotally mounted on each end of the door, a weight associated with each of said members for setting the weight, a member carried by the door and slidable transversely thereof, means associated with said member for normally holding the weight in inactive position to permit movement of the door, a flexible member for supporting the door, and a weight pivotally mounted on the door and movable in a plane transverse to that in which the weight actuating weight is movable, the second weight being operably connected to the cable and transverse member in such manner that failure of the cable FREDERICK A. COLEMAN. 

